Mirroring Communal Ills: A Dramatic Approach - A Study of Ike-Ogu Folk Play Performance

Abstract

The essence of drama in community sensitization, mobilization and reformation has seriously been deemphasized and misinterpreted among indigenes. Some people see and appreciate the entertaining aspect of drama as mere form of relaxation, entertainment and recreation only, thereby neglecting the communicative-corrective potency imbibed in drama. The high rate of social ills in communities are becoming too alarming that at times the indigenes are afraid of who to talk to, when to talk and how to talk about their existing problem in order to get a positive redress. Drama as an investigative and reflective act form would have been the best tool for the mirroring the ills of the society, but based on people’s myopic understanding of drama, they tend to see it as a less powerful tool in procuring solutions to any of their existing problems or issues. But recently based on scholarly findings the use of drama in mirroring communal ills performs a three hydra-headed function: entertainment, education and formation, at this stage drama takes the good news of positive change closer to the people that owns it and not the people who are closer to it. In order to achieve these three hydra-headed functions in drama towards a positive change, an analytical interpretation will be carried out on an indigenous folk play performance called Ike-Ogu as a working metaphor. This paper therefore looks at drama as a reflective-corrective tool towards achieving a positive change and not as mere entertainment.